Magnetic bearings may be used to support or suspend objects using magnetic fields generated by permanent magnets and/or electro-magnets. Such objects may include rotors, and the magnetic bearings may support the rotors to rotate within stators. Magnetic bearings may provide radial support (i.e., support in a radial direction relative to, e.g., a cylindrical rotor) and axial support (i.e., in a direction along the rotational axis of the rotor). A portion of a magnetic bearing responsible for generating a force may be referred to as an electromagnetic actuator. An electromagnetic actuator may exert a force on an object (such as rotor) by exposing a magnetically-permeable portion of the rotor, commonly referred to as an actuator target, to a non-uniform magnetic field. This force can be controlled by changing the field distribution around the target through the electrical currents that generate that field or a portion of that field. It is a common practice to have the magnetic field generating the force composed of two components: a constant bias magnetic field and a varying control magnetic field. With a proper design, this approach allows the resulting force be a linear function of a control current generating the varying control magnetic field, which significantly simplifies design of a control algorithm in magnetic bearings.